Take a look at our summary below to see what we got up to throughout 2018;

SPRING

23 flats, 3 shops and a community area are now complete and lifts have just been installed, providing much needed accommodation for those homeless who were living rough in the surrounding area.

Pamoja Leo–
Our friends in Tanga, Tanzania, run a number of BCT funded programmes including a youth club, nutrition scheme, student scheme and entrepreneur scheme.

The food nutrition programme was implemented in March providing porridge & fruit for breakfast in the mornings and a cooked Swahili lunch for the little kids; ensuring they receive two meals a day. The new girls group which runs twice a week also receive the prepared breakfast and lunch.

Climbing Mount Everest and Running the London Marathon This
April, our friends Ali Ghalib Sheikh, Ali Walji and Mohammed Sheikh embarked on the huge challenge of climbing over 5000m high to the Mount Everest
first base, in order to raise funds for water wells in Africa. Ali Ghalib Sheikh also ran the London marathon shortly after.

They raised a huge £14,997; which funded 20 water wells for those in desperate need of clean water in Africa.

Eye camps – BCT has been giving the gift of eye sight across Africa and India! A separate collation of 2018
eye camps will be posted soon; keep an eye out on our website for more details!

SUMMER

Sufra Food Bank NW London have
been our very good friends since their inception and we are privileged to aid in helping the homeless and poverty stricken residents of the UK.

In May of this year the staff at Beta pulled together 16 boxes of food supplies, as well as 3 lovingly hand knitted blankets, which were donated and distributed by Sufra, in and around North West London.

Striving Against Starvation - Every 3.6 seconds, a child dies due to hunger and 805 million
people are still living with chronic persistent hunger on a daily basis.

BCT’s annual Food Parcel Programme coincided last year with World Hunger Day on 28th May 2018 and a total of £50,000 of food aid was distributed. The drive took place during May to July and provided aid to the poor, and particularly to widows and orphans in the most destitute and deprived areas of Pakistan, Myanmar Rohingya, Yemen, Tanzania, Kenya, Afghanistan, Syria, Niger, Somaliland, Chad, Mali, Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Benin.

The average cost for a typical food parcel (oil, rice, wheat, flour, sugar, tea etc), is £25 and feeds a family of 4-5 people for a whole month.

Water Projects - it is estimated that 844 million people do not have clean drinking water;
including 159 million people who are dependent on surface water, (WHO 2018).

BCT has been building different types of water facilities over the years; hand pumps, re-cupping wells and rota sludge wells. These are built over the poorest areas across Kenya, Tanzania and Pakistan. Another 24 wells were built in 2018 and have been providing clean water to those in desperate need.

AUTUMN

Indonesian Tsunami Emergency Appeal - More than 1,347 people were confirmed dead in the double disaster that hit Sulawesi, Indonesia; a 7.5 magnitude
earthquake and the ensuing tsunami that hit the island, causing terror and turmoil.

Emergency Response Vehicle -BCT purchased and converted a bus into an emergency response vehicle for rural Kenya. Those living in surrounding rural areas, who are sick or in labour, can now get to hospital in an hour. A journey which previously took a whole day to complete.

Breast Cancer Now’s #WearItPink Day is one of the biggest fundraising events in the UK. Thousands of amazing people “wear it pink” in their local communities, schools or workplaces
for the UK's largest breast cancer charity, Breast Cancer Now.

BCT has been supporting this great cause for 5 years now and on our fundraising day this year we raised a total of £1,147!

Orphans and Orphanages -

It is estimated that 153 million children worldwide, ranging from infants to teenagers, have lost one or both parents.

Sponsoring orphans has always been at the forefront of the work that BCT carries out, providing children with the basic fundamentals that every child should have access to; food, shelter, education and healthcare.

BCT works closely with a number of orphanages and orphanage schools including Haven of Peace in Tanzania, Dar al Zahra in Najaf, Iraq and Annamil al Rahma in Diwaniya, Iraq. BCT is privilidged to fund the education and extra curricular activities of a number of students, and have renewed funding for 2019.

For as little as £20 a month you can fund the provisions for a child in Afghanistan, Africa, Haiti, India, Iraq or at home in the UK.

WINTER

Yemen Crisis - Almost
22 million people in Yemen are at high risk of starvation or are relying on humanitarian aid to survive. In addition to this misery, according
to the World Health Organization the country is being plagued by the largest cholera outbreak in recorded history!

BCT is continuing to support Yemen and we contributed $10,000 per month for our Beta Baby Milk Appeal and Cholera Vaccine Appeal.

During winter, temperatures can drop from 23°C degrees to as low as 1°C and so BCT’s War on Winter Appeal supplies much needed thick life saving blankets, costing as little as $11 (£8).